So how will all of this money we raised be spent?

With $4250 in the kitty, (see calculations below), I have to admit that we needed to have a group huddle to discuss how to best utilise these funds as we didn’t anticipate so much. I can however assure you that I can find very worthy projects with even 10 times this figure. We have decided that although we did not start out as an education platform, we have an amazing opportunity to step into this area and make a big difference.

Some quick facts on preschools in Cambodia;

Preschool teachers;

Have no formal education and tend to be house wives in the village looking for some extra money.

Get paid $40 per month to work from 7am until 9am 5 days a week.

Attend the preschools inconsistently as often they need to work other jobs such as in the rice field to earn enough money to get by.

Children that attend preschool;

Have better dexterity with pens and pencils when they start primary school giving them a head start in writing ability.

Pick up lessons in primary school easier as they already have basic problem solving skills and are naturally more inquisitive.

Adapt to primary school quicker as they are already used to being away from family daily and being in a school environment.

Preschools in rural Cambodia;

Have very little in the way of equipment. Most only have tables chairs and a whiteboard

Can be poorly constructed and have not much more than 4 see through walls and a poorly sealed roof.

Do not have any educational equipment such as books or building blocks or puzles

So what can we do about this?

I plan on tackling this in 3 stages. It doesn’t make sense to jump in and combat all of the issues in the first month. So here is our plan;

Hire 2 part time student teachers – Students that study at university in Cambodia only study on the weekends allowing them to still work during the week to help out their families. Their working hours will be from 7am to 11am. They will visit 6 or 7 different preschools on a rotation basis and teach the teachers new games to play and different basic teaching techniques. The extra 1 hour per day will be used to create new entertainment for the Tuk Tuk Theatre in the evenings.To be implemented in approx 2 months

Start a mobile book library (and possibly toy library) –

“There is more treasure in books than in all the pirate’s loot on Treasure Island.” ― Walt Disney Company

We will get together educational children’s books and have them translated by our student teachers. Then it is just a matter of rotating them through the preschools on our visiting rounds meaning their will be new books for the kids to read every week.

To be implemented in approx 4 months

Make co-payments to keep teachers in the schools – If we can raise their salary to $60 per month we can have preschools operate for 3 hrs instead of 2. This also gives the teachers a greater incentive to stay working as the salary is 1/2 that of a qualified teacher working full time in a primary school. We are looking at 6 preschools with 7 teachers which means that we only need a budget of $140 a month.To be implemented in approx 6 months (subject to funding)